christmas pictures

i realize i never posted any pictures from christmas. here are some of my favorites ... adian's favorite part was the bows. seriously, sooo cute.

tyvek wallet and checkbook cover

HUZZAH!!! thank goodness for orders, here is the order that i just finished tonight and will ship to the customer tomorrow. it's a wallet and a checkbook cover, and for good measure i threw in 2 pocket mirrors. (sorry not available on the website right now ... but SOON. i'm working on new images!!!)

my new kodak easyshare 5300 printed these babies just beautifully. seriously ... i'm in LOVE with my new printer.

friends are GREAT!

alright, soooo i've been a slacker in the posting department because my life has just been kinda crazy lately. aidan's been driving me NUTS (he wont sleep ... not during the day and not during the night). and then last tuesday while i was trying to update my website (http://www.jocole.net/) i screwed something up, and there was no repairing it. they had to completly re-install the software that runs my shopping cart and i lost EVERYTHING!! (customer info, order info, all the product descriptions/pictures i had on there ... EVERYTHING.) so on top of everything else i've been trying to get it all back online and decent. i finally got it to where i dont HATE it. it's not the best, but it'll do for now -- until i have some more time to work on it. (if you feel like stopping by and checking it out and letting me know if you see any typos, that would be grrrrrrrrr-eat!!)
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needless to say things have been kinda rough for me.

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this afternoon i was supposed to meet with a member of our relief society presidency (kristi) at another member's house who just had a baby. well i thought i knew where i was going, but was kinda worried because i couldn't find my phone before i left the house. i went anyways. i drove around for 12 minutes trying to find it, turned around went back home and mapquested it, found out i was in the right area and headed back down. i got there 25 minutes late!!! by then i was completely frustrated. i felt bad ... i *hate* being late.

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well it was very apparent of how frustrated i was, and later this evening i had a knock on my door. it was kristi. she had a plate of cookies. kristi, that meant the world to me. thanks for being my friend!!!

they were so appreciated and delicious (see i've been eating them). hopefully this week gets better!! so far, it's beginning to look up! yum, i'm off to eat another one before i go to bed.

aidan loves to explore

aidan loves to explore and get into EVERYTHING! as my neice hannah would say: "he's curious like curious george!" seriously!
(and yes the last four pictures were all on the same day, i don't dress my child in the same outfit everyday, i guess i was just a little picture crazy!)

it's here!!

we've been without a printer for MONTHS. it's been hard -- especially since my calling kinda requires it. you don't realize how much you take your printer for granted, until you have to live without. when ours stopped working we couldn't really afford to go out and buy a new one, plus i'm VERY picky. i wanted one that printed with pigment based inks, and not an epson (the last one was an epson and i was pretty disappointed -- and then it stopped working). anyways, after doing tons of research on printers and inks and continuous ink systems i was still baffled by which one would work for me. i really need something that uses pigment based inks because they are waterproof and that is what i need for my business, jocole.
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well, the other day after aidan woke up and i changed his diaper, we walked out into the living room and turned on the tv. (mind you this is usually not the first thing i do in the morning). and just guess what was glowing out of the screen. an infomercial. well time to change the channel ... WAIT ... it's an infomercial for a printer (wait a little longer) and it uses pigment inks!!!! huzzah! i did some research online and finally decided to purchase it on. it fullfills all the requirements, plus it is bluetooth wireless enabled, which means i don't have to have it connected to my computer -- bonus! i'm so excited! i wish you could all watch the infomercial and decide to buy one yourself. merry christmas to me!!

let me introduce you to the kodak easyshare 5300. i got it just barely before christmas and i started printing the second aidan went to sleep and i could get it all set up. i'm so excited. if you want to purchase one for yourself for $50 less than what they are selling for at kodak.com go check out kodakordernow.com. i am so glad it arrived before christmas because i had some printing i need to do for some presents!! LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

fun with photoshop

i've been playing around with photoshop trying to get new (read that as *better*) images for my website, http://www.jocole.net/. and i've been messing around with some images, here's one of my favorites. aidan and me in my mom's backyard ... all swirled up and looking like an impressionist painting. i love it, i want to blow it up and put it on my wall. so much fun. same picture, just black and white (for you nicole) it's actually really easy, and if you don't know how to do something the help how to box makes it easy!! play around with it and i bet you'll find some new cool tricks. i know you can make just part of the image black and white as well.
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stay tuned and i'll let you know when i get the new images on my website.

burda style

ok, i appoloize for not posting anything for awhile. i've been busy and lazy and just enjoying being busy and lazy. but whilst being lazy and surfing the internet (truly one of my favorite hobbies, i love finding random awesome websites) i thought i would share with my readers my new favorite website. it's called burda style and it's an open source sewing website. they have a collection of patterns (that you can download in pdf format and print at home!!!), a collection of how tos, a "sewpedia" (sewing encyclopedia), a forum and blog.

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ultimately the creators invision the members uploading their own patterns (in pdf format) so they can share and create together.

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what an interesting concept. i don't really enjoy sewing, but lately i've been wanting to sew more and more. and this site has pushed me over the top. i printed out a pattern on saturday and hope to sew a little tonight after aidan goes to sleep. when i'm done i'll post the results. i've had this itch to create something, so i'm hoping this website will give me the push i need to start sewing and focusing on my business again!

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so, if you like to sew i highly recommend heading on over to burdastyle.com and get inspired!!!!